For any organization aimed at cultivating important relations, increasing brand awareness and customer loyalty building, social media is such a powerful tool; credit unions are not exempted. Whether you are just starting in social presence or have been managing Twitter and Facebook for many years, social media is capable of fostering ‘member fanatics’ who can promote and support your credit union contrast to other marketing initiatives. If in case you do not have a strategic vision or clear goal for every social platform, potential members can be turned away.
The following are six ways on how you can improve your social media presence:
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Become a ‘MacGyver’
According to Filene, a research institute specializing in issues of consumer finances and credit unions, it has been established different social media personalities. 40 % of credit union are deemed as ‘Monogamists’ of social media- they exclusively depend on one platform (like Facebook) for engaging their target audience and completely ignore other mediums (like Instagram and Twitter). 27 % of the credit unions are ‘integrators’ who use several social media platforms to establish a presence but have similar content posted throughout hence creating an integrated presence. ‘MacGyvers’ who form about 7% is the group that is most successful and which utilizes social media to full potential. Such credit unions are resourceful, creative and have engineering tools capable of serving their members’ unique needs. In particular, MacGyvers normally:
- Have an active presence and constantly engage users of social media
- Offer rich and valuable content differing from one platform to another
- Use such words as ‘us’ and ‘we’
- Post from a human perspective rather than an organization one
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Researching on your audience
Before you truly understand them, get to know your social audience in order to understand how you can connect with your followers of credit unions. Gather as much data as possible regarding your social audience. To help you make the analysis and gain insights, there are various online tools. SumAll is a good tool that enables one to monitor your website traffic and all other social platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Twitter in a central dashboard. Generate reports and set email alerts for meaningful conclusions.
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Drafting a social media strategy
Have a definite social strategy to constantly engage the target audience, communicate your vision and fulfill your objectives in marketing. Establish goals that outline clearly what you would like to achieve in your endeavors of social media.
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Creating a content calendar
Most credit unions arbitrarily assign to their staff initiatives of social media. Some of them lack the experience of social media besides carrying a full load of work. Having a thorough content calendar ensures that every member of staff gets access to relevant content that directly speaks to the social audience.
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Share content that is member-generated
Among the users who are highly engaged, 40 % of the credit unions receive positive feedback and augmented engagement when they post content that is member generated. Member generated content usually adds a human element to their presence in social media. This results to stronger bonds while talking to their followers.
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Use social media tools
These helps one to track, manage and analyze the effectiveness of your social media presence. For example Facebook Insights, Hootsuite and TweetDeck help one in scheduling posts to the exact time and day.
